Manufacture of rugs and the like



- May 9, 1933.

N. H. BREWSTER 1,907,492

MANUFACTURE OF RUGS AND THE LIKE Filed April 12, 1928 II In JJJ Y 1 VENTOR I %%/77/a4 fired/Si ar BY( AMA! WM ATTORNEY S Patented May 9, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NEHEMIAH H. BREWSTER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CHELSEA FIBRE MILLS, A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK MANUFACTURE OF BUGS AND THE LIKE Application filed April 12, 1928. Serial K0 2895331.

This application relates to a method of making rugs, mats or carpets, by imbedding fibrous material in rubber so that the fibres are held in place without'the necessity of their being engaged-by a fabric backing.

According to the present invention, the fibrous material is arranged with the fibres more or less parallel as by making a bat, or by arranging threads or strands, side by side so that the material has a sheet-like form, though it is not intended to imply by this statement that it is necessary to have a sheet-like structure. The fibrous material arranged as stated, is folded by appropriate mechanism back and forth around a series of bars or rods which are afterwards pressed together gripping the material between adjacent bars. The bars are arranged in two rows which are spaced apart so that the material is stretched between them in folds with loops about the bars. There is thus formed an almost solid mass of fibrous material which ordinarily will be made somewhat less than one inch thick and of an desired length and breadth.

While t e material is still held in place by the rods or bars, both faces of the fibrous,

mass are spread with a compound of rubber which will closely engage the fibrous material. For this purpose I prefer to use a compound which includes a, liquefying agent so that the compound is tacky, and a certain amount of permeation may be obtained without exerting undue pressure on the mass. Such a compound may for example comprise rubber dissolved in an appropriate solvent or preferably rubber latex is used. After drying, an additional layer of rubber of a denser nature may be spread on if desired or a backing sheet of burlap or other material maiyl be applied. The rubber is then cured so t at the fibres are firmly locked in lace. The rods may now be withdrawn and then the mass is cut through the middle so that the free ends of the fibres are exposed and two identical mats or rugs are roduced.

e exact nature of the rubber carrying com ound may be varied to suit the nature of t e fibrous material. Thus ifa jute. mat

is being made, there should first be an impregnation with a rubber carrying liquid of low viscosity which will permeate the twists of jute fibre and protect them from rotting, after which a relatively viscous compound 1s spread on the surface as an anchor for the fibre. If animal fibres such as wool or silk are being used, the preliminary impregnation may be omitted and a viscous, tacky backing can be applied directly.

In order that my invention may be better understood, I show diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing a. method which I have used in making small jute mats. In the drawing Fig. 1 is an end view of a portion of the a paratus and Fig. '2 is a sectional view on ine 22 of Fig. 1.

The frame members 10 and 12 each carry an upper channel guide 14 and a lower channel guide 16. A bar 18 is first put in one pair of these channels (here shown in the upper pair 14) and the ends of a series of jute threads 19 are attached to this bar in such a way that the threads lie parallel and close together. The threads are then brought down below the channels 16 and a lower bar 20 is inserted in these lower channels'and brought approximately under the first bar 18. The threads are brought up around the bar 20 to a point above the channels 14, and another bar 18 is inserted in the A down and another bar 20 inserted and pushed into place, and these 0 erations are continued until a structure 0 the desired size is obtained.

In this case in order to protect the jute from rotting, the fibre was impregnated with rubber latex and then a layer of rubber was spread over the loops of fibre which formed the two surfaces, and cured. The rods 18 and 20 were slipped out of the channels 14 and 16 and withdrawn from between the folds of the fibres. The doublefaced structure was cut in half, as on the line AA, producing two mats.

It is to be understood that this example is given only by way of illustration and that in actual production these operations or their equivalentswould be done by automatic machinery, and that many other methods may be used of bringing fibres of various t pes into proper relation with the bars w 'ch hold them in folds.

What I claim is: I

1. The process of making'mats or the like which comprises the steps of forming a parallel series of connected loops of fibrous material about a air of substantially parallel bars and then ormin an additional series of loops connected wit said first loops about airs of bars so that said loops additional lie substantially in two substant ally parallel lanes, with their outer portions formin siir aces extending in every direction in sai planes a distance at least as great as the thiclmessof a plurality oi loops, coating the ends of said loops w1th adhesive material while leaving portions of the fibrous material which connect the loops uncoated whereby the s are locked 1n place, an

cutting the resu ting structure throu h the middle in a lane substantiall para lel to the planes 0 the loops, where y two mats are produced.

2. A process as defined in claim 1 which the adhesive material-comprises rubber.

3. A process as set forth in claim'l'which further includes the step of ap lying a fibrous backing to the rubber coated loops.

4. The process of making mats and the like which comprises the steps of forming an extended series of substantially parallel loops of fibrous material about two extended series of bars arranged with the bars in each series approximately parallel both to the bars in the same series and to the bars in the other series, whereby a massof fibrous material is obtained having two extended dimensions in the plane of the loops, and applying a rubber compound to such loops to attach the same together.

' NEHEMIAH H. BREWSTER. 

